“The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.”
-George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (1880-1959)
Throughout history and across cultures, absolute power has corrupted absolutely (Lord Acton, 1834-1902).
While charisma, wealth, and power motivate everyone civilization requires moral frameworks to tame the savage beast – the ones that effective governments use to manage peaceful coexistence. Social contracts.
Might makes right is the universal credo of totalitarian regimes, a concept first described by Thucydides around 410 BC.
30-40 years later, in the Republic, Plato introduces a “rich and mighty man, who had a great opinion of his own power, and was the first to say that justice is ‘doing good to your friends and harm to your enemies.’ ” Gangsta!
And in 1532, Niccolò Machiavelli explained in detail how to use treachery to obtain and hold on to power. Contemporary renderings include The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Game of Thrones.
This behavior is as old and pervasive as humanity itself.
Power feels good
Power feels good because it aligns biology, psychology, and social structure around control, reward, and reduced threat. The pleasure is real:
- Control over outcomes reduces uncertainty and stress, which lowers cortisol and produces a sense of relief and confidence
- Other people are compelled to follow your instructions
- Power can feel especially good in contrast to former powerlessness
- Power and money create personal liberty and opportunity
However, power also:
- Reduces empathy
- Increases risk-taking at the expense of others
- Reinforces narcissism
- Often feels intoxicating, leading to cycles of addiction
How sycophants get created
People become sycophants not because they lack character, but because their livelihoods depend on people who punish honesty and reward compliance.
Deference to power can also be a rational adaptation to hierarchy, uncertainty, and reward structures—even when it degrades honesty and integrity. The behavior is rarely about personality; it is usually about incentives.
Sycophancy disrupts conscious decision-making, isolates followers from reality, and accelerates institutional failure through neglect. It may feel safe in the short term but the big problems fester meanwhile.
When someone else controls resources, careers, or safety, disagreement becomes costly. Flattery, even fawning, can reduce perceived threat. In that sense, sycophancy functions as risk management: it signals loyalty and lowers the chance of retaliation or exclusion.
Hierarchies breed sycophants when they lack improvement loops, means of dissent, or independent evaluation systems. The behavior flourishes where truth carries penalties and loyalty brings rewards.
The ends justify the means
“Might Makes Right” is the belief that power itself confers moral legitimacy: outcomes produced by superior force—military, political, economic, technological, or interpersonal—are implicitly justified by success.
Victims are “collateral damage.”
Practical Strategies: Alternative Incentives
Instead, we must seek to prioritize both the ends and the means.
B Corp, for example, founded in 2006, has certified 10,000 companies which “meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.” Their member companies explicitly do well by doing good.
Critics sometimes argue that moral constraints weaken leadership and invite exploitation. Yet this conflates restraint with weakness. Durable political systems rely not only on enforcement but on legitimacy, trust, and shared norms.
Rejecting “might makes right” does not deny the reality of power. The challenge is to subject power to moral standards rather than allowing the powerful to define morality. Constitutions, human rights organizations, and international norms all represent ongoing attempts—often flawed—to bind power to responsibility and justice.
In Sum
Power and money concentrate into corrupt hands when rules are weak, visibility is low, and accountability is absent. Abuse of power and sycophancy inevitably follow.
“Might makes right” is a discredited and unsustainable moral philosophy which offers no objective standard by which people can be held accountable. It reduces justice to victory and morality to us vs. them.
Read More
- How (and Why) Power Corrupts People by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. for Psychology Today
- Might makes right from Wikipedia
- Behind the smile: the inner theatre of the sycophant by Manfred Kets de Vries for Medium
- Corporate Social Responsibility from Wikipedia